CUTTING OUT THE DESIGN
Cutting-out knives should possess a keen edge and a small blade, and should be so shaped that they can be turned freely in any direction. The knife illustrated in Fig. 21 combines all these qualities. It consists of a very fine double-edged blade, set loosely into a slit in a hard wood handle and secured with a few turns of thread; a piece of leather over the whole (A) keeps the blade in its place. The handle being loose, it is possible to give any minute movement to the blade, which can also be taken out for sharpening when necessary. It must be kept as sharp as a razor. The extreme fineness of this blade facilitates cutting out the delicate parts of a design, but if handled too vigorously it is apt to get out of shape. The second tool (Fig. 22) is a stencil-cutter’s knife, and is very similar to the one described above except in size. It is usually sold mounted in an ebony slide bound round with copper wire, but can with advantage be mounted as in Fig. 21, in a split hard-wood handle.
One little known tool deserves mention for its flexibility and lightness. This is a small scraper shaped like an unslit pen, the blade widening from the point in two very fine edges like the head of a pike. It is used by photographers and miniature painters, and is sold by the dozen in small boxes. When in use it is firmly fixed in a small pen-holder so that it does not turn when pressed upon (Fig. 23).
CUTTING-OUT KNIVES: (A), FIG. 21, FIG. 22, FIG. 23
The special knife illustrated in Fig. 17 is sometimes recommended, but it is better adapted to cutting out thick skins for open-work decoration, as the point of the blade is not sufficiently fine for use on thin leather.
FIG. 24.—CUTTING OUT INLAY
The leather to be cut out is placed on a sheet of the cardboard used in mounting drawings, which is firm, but at the same time easily penetrated by the point of the tool. The nature of the board on which the leather is laid is important, for to ensure a clean cut, the tool, as it pierces the leather, must not encounter a veined surface such as that of wood, which might deflect the point. The three middle fingers of the left hand hold the leather mounted on the paper upon the board, the thumb and little finger supporting the whole underneath (Fig. 24). The part
which is to be cut is turned towards the knife by the left hand, the right hand being held in a fixed position with the knife, slightly inclined to the right, cutting the leather as it is presented by the other hand. The lines must be cleanly cut in order that the subsequent operation of outlining may be successfully accomplished. With every care in cutting out, it may sometimes be found in detaching the cut portion that a small thread of the leather remains unsevered. In this case it should be neatly cut through, and on no account may it be pulled to make it give way, which would result in spoiling the design by either tearing or stretching the leather. When cutting out a design on a large scale it is not possible to hold the work in the manner just described; a part of the design to be cut out is therefore placed flat on a large sheet of cardboard on a smooth table and can then be turned about as required under the point of the knife.
9. Cover of Case for a cup in wood covered with leather, cuir bouilli, embossed, painted and gilt. Italian, about 1500.
When the inlay is of white or very light leather, it is extremely difficult to conceal any joins occurring in the middle of lines; care must therefore be taken that there are as few joins as possible, and that they are arranged at points where they will easily disappear in lines of the design going in an opposite direction.
The centre of the design should be cut out first, and then the outer lines, reserving the more delicate parts, such as flower stems, for the last.